How can you prepare for your first appointment with a mental health professional? Or, if you’ve been seeing a therapist or psychiatrist for years, how can you make your sessions more productive? Depression Center Executive Director John Greden, M.D., talks about “preparing for sharing” in the Fall issue of esperanza Magazine – "hope" to cope with anxiety and depression. Read more...

Discussing a mental health concern can be difficult. How do you bring it up? Who do you bring it up with? What do you even say? Learn more about ways to approach these discussions on our Depression Toolkit. Read more...

A first-of-its-kind U-M study has demonstrated how pain medication results in changes in the brain by using advanced imaging technology to track the actions of a pain medication prescribed to patients suffering from fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain. Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder thought to result from a disturbance in the way the central nervous system processes pain. In addition to chronic pain, patients may also suffer from related mood disturbances, such as anxiety and depression. Read more...

Depression Center member David Hsu spoke with WAMC Northeast Public Radio’s Academic Minute about how the brain deals with the pain of social rejection. Listen to the interview or read a transcript here.

Get social with the National Network of Depression Centers!

Did you know we are one of 20 leading clinical and academic centers of excellence that make up the National Network of Depression Centers? The NNDC is a national non-profit working to transform the field of depressive illnesses and related mood disorders. Visit them on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn today!

NOTICES

Submit nominations for outstanding student mental health advocates!

The U-M Depression Center’s Student Mental Health Advocate Award recognizes outstanding student leadership in the area of campus mental health. You may nominate a college student (undergraduate or graduate) to receive this award, which will be presented at the 2014 Depression on College Campuses Conference, March 12-13. Read about last year's award recipients here.

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Ongoing: NAMI Washtenaw County offers support groups for people of all ages with mental illness and their loved ones. These free groups are held regularly each month in Ann Arbor; visit their website for details.

January 30-February 2: Next to Normal, presented by the Ann Arbor Civic Theatre: a Tony award-winning musical about family coping with mental illness, loss, grief, and family relations. A special post-show discussion on Sunday, Feb. 2 (free and open to anyone) will feature staff members from the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Fund and volunteers from NAMI Washtenaw County, along with the play's director and cast. This special session will focus on bipolar disorder and other mental illnesses, how they affect families, different treatment options, and where research is headed in this field.